Group of Seven foreign Ministers on Monday expressed concern about maritime disputes in Asia, as worries grow in the region over China’s territorial and military ambitions. Beijing lays claim to almost all of the South China Sea despite conflicting partial claims from Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines. It has constructed artificial islands in the area in recent months as it asserts its sovereignty. Japan, meanwhile, has its own dispute with China in the East China Sea over uninhabited islands that it administers but that are also claimed by Beijing.
“We are concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas, and emphasise the fundamental importance of peaceful management and settlement of disputes,” the G7 ministers said in a statement after their two-day meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima.